Polk Approves Cypress Gardens Deal

However, The Owners Are Threatening To Sell To A "Big Box" Retailer.

January 22, 2004|By Christopher Sherman, Sentinel Staff Writer

BARTOW -- Cypress Gardens' rescue moved closer Wednesday with the help of a firetruck and a unanimous vote by the Polk County Commission to pay $2.5 million for 30 core acres of the shuttered theme park.

Chosen buyer Kent Buescher is expected to submit his signed $7 million contract to buy the other 120 acres this morning, but Wednesday's eleventh-hour negotiations hinged on an unexpected detail -- an antique firetruck that a Cypress Gardens owner had and Buescher wanted. He got it.

That leaves only a vote from Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet on Tuesday to spend $11 million for development rights over the entire property before Buescher, owner of Wild Adventures theme park in Valdosta, Ga., is able to reopen the 67-year-old park.

And not a minute too soon.

A letter from the attorney for Cypress Gardens' owners released Wednesday said a "super big box" retailer made an offer for part of the property and development would start immediately if the state votes against the deal.

But representatives of The Trust for Public Land, which has orchestrated the deal, and Cabinet staffers had a productive meeting Wednesday morning in Tallahassee in advance of next week's Cabinet meeting, said Greg Chelius, the land trust's Florida director.

"We feel fairly confident the governor and Cabinet are on board," said Chelius, who will have a conference call with the land trust's national board of directors at 1:30 p.m. today to provide a status report. The land trust is lending $7 million to Buescher, who is expected to submit a letter of commitment from his financial backers today.

But a letter Chelius received Wednesday from the attorney for First Gardens LLC, the park's owners, emphasized this is the last chance. The attorney, Ronald L. Clark, wrote that his client "will proceed with the development" of the property on Wednesday if the Cabinet does not approve the conservation easement on Tuesday.

The letter also called the land on Winter Haven's Lake Eloise "the best potential waterfront housing development in Central Florida" and said an offer was on the table from a "super big box" retailer for the commercial parcel. Former state Sen. Rick Dantzler of Winter Haven, who led a local task force to save the park, said he was "not authorized" to identify it.

Bill Reynolds, one of the park's owners, had to make one final concession to seal the deal, Chelius said.

The land trust's contract with the owners included not only the land but various other items on the property. An antique firetruck cherished by Reynolds was an exception noted by Buescher, but Reynolds agreed to let it go if it helped close the deal, Chelius said.

Buescher hopes to reopen Cypress Gardens in May and invest $35 million in the first 12 months restoring the park and adding roller coasters and other rides.